There has been a lot of talk lately about what can be done to fix Heroes, as the consensus grows that the show is suffering through some big creative problems. Complaints abound about the often sloppy writing, as the motivations become murkier and increasingly hard to swallow, with too many twists done for their own sake, and not as a believable action on the part of a character. The audience dissatisfaction seems to be reflected in the ratings for the series, with a 21% drop in total viewers from where the show was a year ago.

The troubles the show is going through finally had a major result on the creative side this week, with the news that two of the main

Heroes writer/producers, Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander, had been let go from the series. According to Variety, series creator Tim Kring is said to be working to, "get back to the show's comicbookish good vs. evil themes and to emphasize character development more than plot twists."

There's no word yet on who, if anyone, might replace Loeb and Alexander, who were said to help guide the writers room while Kring dealt with many of the other issues a show as large and technically intense as

Heroes call for. But if NBC and Kring are on the lookout, IGN offers the following candidates: Six writer/producers who could bring back the kind of focus and strong storylines Heroes needs to become the great show it once was and could be again.

Note: I've tried to be (partially) realistic here, and not pick guys like JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Ron Moore or Eric Kripke who are clearly way too busy with shows or other projects of their own to join Heroes… though in a couple of cases, I did stretch the possibilities to include a couple of folks who would need an extra bit of coaxing.

Behr's credits go back to the early 80s, including the Fame series (hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere). But it's on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that he really showed his talent. Behr had already written for The Next Generation, but on Deep Space Nine he was able to help craft the long running Dominion arc, which took Trek into darker and more complex territory than it often would go.

Then came The 4400 - There's more to it than this simple discription, but in a nutshell, the cable series (which Behr was an executive producer on) was about ordinary humans developing super powers and how that affects them and the world around them. And in fact, for those familiar with 4400, when Heroes first began, it was hard to ignore that the then still running 4400 was dealing with some similar storylines… and as time has gone on, it's clear 4400 was the show that dealt with most of those stories in more interesting ways. The introduction on Heroes this season of a formula that can give anyone a superpower is rather blatantly similar to the integral promicin story on 4400, which was used for fascinating moral questions, rather than a rehash of The Fly

With Heroes doing such a poor job handling stories The 4400 did very well, why not put one of the key architects of the more solid show onto the weaker one? On The 4400, Behr had to deal with the far more limiting budget and resources of a cable series, meaning a lot of corners had to be cut – it would be great to see him go all out with the 4 million an episode budget of Heroes. And if anyone can steer this show away from seeming like a flashier but ultimately more empty version of The 4400, it's the guy who made The 4400.

Since The 4400 was cancelled by USA last year (yes, I'm still bitter), Behr has yet to launch his next project. So NBC, how about bringing him in ASAP to get Heroes back on track?